Search

According to United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)1, 850 million children and young adults are out of education or training because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In many countries, this has resulted in a shift from traditional in-person learning to online learning. However, online learning is not new in developed countries. Many universities had ventured since long into online education with some courses offered as a supplement to in-person teaching. Pakistan is one of the countries lacking both accessibility and infrastructure for this major transition2. Hence there is a need to examine the current challenges and the impact on our students. There will be certainly an increase in educational inequalities and the setback will last for a long-time affecting employment and income especially for those coming from underdeveloped areas. As regards medical students, this pandemic presents the greatest practical and logistical challenge3. It has disrupted medical education, requiring intense and prompt attention from medical educators. These challenges have affected patient care due to focusing attention on COVID-19 patients, which has severely limited the availability of bedside teaching opportunities for medical students4. Resultantly they are unable to complete clerkships and lack direct patient care experience. To make online education more inclusive, institutions need to ensure that learners benefit from technologies and have access to the Internet. Smartphone use has increased manifold in our country, and it can be easily used for online learning, which is a good replacement for laptops. Surveys focusing on accessibility to the Internet, laptops/tablets/smartphones can provide a platform, involving stakeholders who can help students who have limited or no access5. The college IT department should be involved which should help students with issues that come up during e-learning. Although e-learning is not an alternative to hospital rotations, yet it can help continue medical education through access to clinical videos and other online resources focusing on clinical scenarios and examination techniques. We need to ensure teachers’ training for the unique demands that online teaching poses. Many strategies have been developed for improving the quality of online teaching and engaging students. These include interacting with students, encouraging student’s participation by giving more open-ended questions, sharing videos focusing on examination techniques and different clinical scenarios, providing clear directions at the start of the session, and providing students with emotional support in this time of crisis. We should not forget that students’ attitudes are influenced by the support they receive from families and teachers. As teachers, we play an important role in the development of positive attitudes and providing students with emotional support6. There is a need for specific guidelines for online medical education framed by Pakistan Medical Council for implementing e-learning. With this sudden shift, away from the classroom in many parts of the world, some are wondering whether the adoption of online learning will continue to persist post-pandemic. For teachers, it is an opportunity to implement this teaching and learning methodology in our medical schools and training institutions whereas for students it is an opportunity to make use of e-learning for deriving maximum benefit thus preparing us for an unforeseeable situation in the future.

Copyright of Amme Idaresi Dergisi is the property of Public Administration Institute for Turkey & the Middle East (TODAIE) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

A near-isogenic line (NIL) of the Indian wheat variety HD2733, carrying an introgressed Lr24/Sr24 genomic region was used for studying the effect of this introgression on quality traits. Data on the grain yield and 21 quality traits were recorded in this NIL and its recurrent parent (RP), both of which were grown in a randomized block design for two consecutive years. The statistical analysis revealed that grain yield was on par between the NIL and the RP. The NIL and its RP were both hard grained but the NIL showed a grain hardness index reduced by 9.7%. However, quality traits such as grain weight, protein content, sedimentation value, gluten traits, and solvent retention capacity were significantly higher in the NIL. The NIL also showed an increase in dough stability, a lower degree of softening and a higher farinograph quality number. These results indicated that the NIL could be utilized for hard grain, high protein and strong gluten-based products. An overall improvement in the quality of the NIL over its recurrent parent and without any yield penalty suggests that the Lr24/Sr24 genomic region could be gainfully utilized in wheat breeding for improving the industrial quality of wheat without jeopardising grain yield. The authors suggest that the improved quality of the NIL may be due to the genomic segment carried along with the Lr24/Sr24 genes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plant height (PH) is closely associated with yield-related traits and environmental adaptation. Seven pairs of near-isogenic lines (NILs) targeting four QTL on 3AL, 4BL, 4AS, and 7AL wheat chromosome arms were assessed for PH and four yield-related traits including yield per plant (Y/P), grain number per spike (G/S), thousand kernel weight (TKW), and biomass per plant (B/P). Significant differences were observed in the NIL pairs for the measured traits. NIL pairs targeting the 3AL QTL differed significantly in PH, G/S, and TKW; NILs targeting the 4BL QTL differed significantly in PH, Y/P, and B/P; NIL pairs targeting the 4AS QTL differed significantly in all the traits; and NIL pairs targeting the 7AL QTL differed significantly in PH. A 90 K SNP genotyping assay of the NILs detected nineteen SNPs associated with fourteen functional genes. Among them, eight candidate genes are related to Rht proteins, four genes are related to hormone pathways and two genes are related to carbohydrate synthesis and transport. By searching the interval marker physical positions, it was found that the four targeted QTL in this study overlapped with eight previously reported QTL for PH, TKW, biomass, and yield. Correlation analysis revealed that PH significantly and positively correlated with B/P and G/S. The SNP and candidate gene information is potentially useful for marker-assisted selection in breeding programs, and the four targeted QTL are proved to be critical genomic regions controlling the investigated agronomic traits, which can be further fine mapped to identify the underlying genes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Mosaic Research is the property of Uludag University, Mosaic Research Center and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Arjun Srirampur Department of Cornea, Cataract and Refractive Surgery, Anand Eye Institute, Hyderabad, 500007, IndiaCorrespondence: Arjun SrirampurDepartment of Cornea, Cataract and Refractive Surgery, Anand Eye Institute, Hyderabad, 500007, IndiaTel +91-9989229832Fax +91 040-27151999Email sarjuneye@gmail.comView the original paper by Dr Rush and colleaguesA Response to Letter has been published for this article.

Thomas J WebsterDepartment of Chemical Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115, USACorrespondence: Thomas J Webster Boston, MA 02115, USAEmail th.webster@neu.edu In research, especially in academia and our universities, we have always thought we are safe. Safe to address the highest priorities of healthcare problems. Safe to develop the latest solutions to cancer and any disease we wish to study. Safe from politics. Safe from archaic policies that stymie finding cures for Alzheimer’s disease or stroke. Safe to generate nanoparticles that can both detect MRSA infections and clear them from the human body.